What? No Ozil is the X-Factor player, Bender would be a good person to shore up the fragile defence for sure. But this season, what if Giroud get's injured.. can Bendtner or Sonogo or even Walcott/Podolski when back, take the helm as lead striker?

They may play in similar positions on the pitch, but we've seen already how important Flamini is to the team. Arteta can not fill his absence in the side. In other words, he does not 'have this covered'. Also, he is getting close to the end of his career. What if he gets injured tomorrow? Ramsey Wilshere as the 2 in our 4-2-3-1 against Dortmund? This is what lost us the first game against Villa. Nightmare.

edit -- Lars bender is so overrated on here, it's obvious that people have never watched him and are going off of video games. I've seen people bullshitting about him being Levekusen's best player. Anyone who has watched Bayer knows that Kiessling has been their best and most important player for the past 3 years at least.

Alex Song is a better passer than either bender, he's a better tackler than either bender, he makes more interceptions, PLUS he already knows our team and how we play. He's also better tactically now than either of them, after his schooling in the most tactically astute team in the history of the sport. When Song leaves Barca, he's gonna be like Yaya Toure.

I'm not so sure though, generally when he bombed forward we were completely exposed at the back because Arteta wasn't even the anchor at the time. I felt the majority of Song's creativity came from deeper as well. I wouldn't mind having him back, but I think there are better players available if Wenger is willing to spend.